


Tiny paws and loving arms

by hllfire



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Charles Xavier has a Ph.D in Adorable, Erik is a Sweetheart, Established Relationship, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Mutant Husbands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:40:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24192958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hllfire/pseuds/hllfire
Summary: The one where Charles and Erik adopt a cat and have just the most domestic moments with it.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Comments: 15
Kudos: 66





	Tiny paws and loving arms

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This idea came from watching too many cat tiktoks and thinking "hey, what it would be like if Charles and Erik had a cat?", and thus this was born. It was supposed to be a short thing but, as you can see, it turned into 4k words cause I couldn't hold myself.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this! The "angst" only lasts for the start and then it's fluff.

Erik arrived from work late that day, back aching from another day's work but smiling to himself as he noticed the smell of coffee coming from the kitchen. Charles was home already, back early from his classes, and had apparently made Erik the coffee that he drank every night without exception. The thought of having coffee and Charles with him, maybe while his husband reading one of his many articles out loud to him, made the back pain get duller. In the end, it was all that he truly wanted.

He took off his shoes at the door, moving his shoulders slightly as he put the backpack he carried around on the couch to release some tension, and decided that the coffee could wait before walking inside the small house to search for his husband. He looked inside their room, frowning as he saw the empty bed and the bags on top of it — Charles had apparently gone shopping for something. He heard the other man's voice coming from their bathroom, giving the bags a quick glance before he stopped in his tracks when, as well as Charles' voice, Erik heard a soft sound of a cat meowing. 

Erik opened the bathroom door, finding Charles crouched next to the bathtub, still in his work clothes, and with a small black kitten in his hands that was basically begging to be taken out of the water as Charles talked to it in a cooing voice, as if the kitten would understand when he told it that it would be over soon. The water around the animal was brown with dirt.

"Charles…"

The man turned his head quickly to look at Erik, grimacing as if he had just been caught doing something he shouldn't. The cat meowed again, trying to escape Charles' grasp.

"Oh." Charles said, moving his eyes away from Erik. "Hello, love."

"Why are you giving this cat a bath?" Erik asked carefully, closing his eyes and shaking his head, stopping him with a gesture of his hand before Charles could answer. "Better question: why is this cat here?"

Charles bit his lip. He clearly had not planned it to go that way if the look in his eyes were any clue, and he resumed his work of washing the cat carefully, turning his back to Erik again.

"I found him when I was leaving campus. It's been raining a lot lately and the poor thing was covered in mud when I saw him." his voice was soft as he finished his work and carefully tucked the cat in a clean towel. The animal seemed way more comfortable now that there wasn't water all around it. "I couldn't just leave him there."

Erik looked behind himself again, at their bed, seeing the bags on top of it and finally noticing the pet store logo on them. He sighed loudly.

"Charles, we can't keep it."

 _"What?_ Why?" Charles got up quickly from the ground, allowing Erik to see now the wet stains and the mud on his clothes — and even some on his hair.

"We don't have time for a pet." Erik kept his stern face, seeing his husband's expression turn sad with his words. He hated seeing that expression, hated when Charles' eyes did _that thing_ that made him look like a sad puppy, but he had reason behind of what he was saying. "I work six days a week and you work five, three of them where you come home really late at night after leaving early in the morning. The cat would just be at home alone everyday. We can't have a pet with our time schedule."

"But summer break is coming for me in just one week." Charles cried out, clutching the cat tightly to his chest. It seemed that now both Charles' blue eyes and the cat's green ones were judging him for being evil there. He hated it. "By the time I go back, he'll be grown already and will be able to take care of himself while we're away! Besides, I already bought food and a bed for him."

"Which we'll have to talk about because you took a decision without consulting me first."

"Because you like cats! I thought you would say yes."

Erik sighed, the soft feeling he had when he arrived going away and giving place for the heavy weight of a discussion he knew was coming. He felt like he needed that cup of coffee more than ever now.

"I like cats, doesn't mean I want to have one."

"Then what should I do with him?" the way Charles' voice sounded almost made Erik backtrack, but it wouldn't be fair for the cat to live in a home where the people that lived there weren't present most of the time.

"Put him for adoption. I'm sure someone will want him." Charles nodded, eyes moving to the floor before he walked past Erik to take the cat elsewhere.

* * *

A few hours later, after dinner and after watching the cat follow Charles everywhere he went, both of them were laying in bed, the cat safely locked inside the bathroom with the bed Charles had bought. Charles was clearly still upset with Erik's decision, all coiled up on his side of the bed instead of invading Erik's personal space like he usually did, and Erik sighed out loud. He moved closer to Charles, placing a hand softly on the other man's arm and a kiss to his shoulder over the fabric of his nightshirt. Charles turned to look at him, a small pout on his lips that made Erik smile with fondness before kissing that pout away.

"I'm sorry, I know you want to keep the cat." he said softly, nuzzling Charles' cheek before looking down at him with an apologetic look. Charles pouted once more. "But you must know that it's better if he finds some place where he can actually get some attention and get taken care of."

"I know, and I know you're right. I just really wanted to keep him…"

"Maybe someday." Erik said, smiling down at his husband as he finally turned his body to pull Erik closer.

* * *

Two days later, the cat was still with them. Charles had sworn that he had put a post on his social media about adopting the cat, but that no one had shown interest yet. So, that morning as Erik ate his breakfast at the table as Charles read the news on his phone, he was surprised by sharp teeth biting his toe under the table. He tried not to kick at the sudden pain, hissing and pulling his feet back under the chair to get away from the small kitten that now had taken that gesture as a challenge to get to Erik's feet. 

Charles noticed the commotion, frowning slightly before looking under the table and laughing softly at the view. Once Erik had enough of sharp teeth biting into his skin, he moved down and scooped the cat up to look at it, seeing it stop and purr at him. A charmer, apparently. He sighed out loud.

"He likes you." Charles said, filling his mouth with scrambled eggs as he looked from Erik to the cat in his hands with a soft gaze.

"He likes my feet. And my shoes. And anything he can shove his teeth on." Erik shook his head, putting the cat on the ground again and seeing it walk away with its tail up to play with one of the toys Charles had bought him. "No one offered to adopt him yet?"

Charles did a suspicious thing with his face that made Erik frown before the man shook his head. "No, no one yet."

* * *

After the fourth day of no response to Charles' supposed post on social media, Erik started to get suspicious. He didn't have social media, which Charles scrutinized him for everyday because _'how could he live without it?',_ which always led to a heated discussion about the problems of society's need to perform everyday and its damage to this generation and about how Erik didn't laugh at the videos that Charles showed him. But not having social media made Erik not be able to confirm the existence of said post. He knew Charles had a lot of friends and followers thanks to his job and his importance on the academic field — also because apparently he managed to convince teenagers that he was cool on the internet by talking science with memes and Erik had to listen to all of the bad jokes —, and it was weird that no one had came forward to adopt the cat yet.

At night, when he arrived home from work, Charles had the cat on his chest as he watched tv, both very comfortable and making Erik raise his eyebrows at his husband, who smiled at him obliviously.

"Charles, we need to talk about the cat." Charles' face dropped with Erik's words. Erik just sighed and took off his shoes.

"You _just_ arrived home. You could say something sweet and romantic to me, you know?"

"Did you even actually made a post about the adoption?" he got his answer quickly when he saw the guilt in Charles' eyes and the way his lips pursed. "Are you _kidding me,_ Charles?"

"I thought that once you spent some time with him you'd warm up to the idea!"

"I clearly told you we couldn't keep this cat-"

"We're doing a great job of keeping it so far, aren't we?" Charles interrupted, carefully taking the cat away from his chest so he could sit up. "And next week I won't have work because of my break so I'll be home all day for three months! It's the perfect time to keep it!"

"You're taking decisions without me, Charles, and that's not how this works." Erik crossed his arms, now slightly angry at Charles' stubbornness and defiance, seeing the man bite the inside of his mouth and look away.

Meanwhile, the cat jumped from the couch, stumbling on his own legs for a moment before running towards Erik and rubbing himself around his ankles, looking up at him as if he was expecting to be picked up. Erik looked at the small thing, the subject of the discussion he and Charles were having right now, and he clenched his jaw. As much as he hated to admit, he liked the cat — who he intentionally hadn't named or allowed Charles to name — and he liked the idea of having a pet even if the little tornado there had munched on his running shoes the day before as well as bitten his feet several times when Erik wasn't careful enough. And yet, now he was angry at Charles for ignoring his side of the argument like that.

He picked the cat up when he meowed softly up at him, scratching behind his ear and seeing the little thing melt before trying to climb Erik's clothes as he walked over to the couch and sat at Charles' side. The man was looking at the cat in Erik's arm with both a fond and a sad look, as if he loved the image of Erik with the animal in his arms but knew what would come next.

"Don't do that again." Erik warned, making Charles eyes look at his with some kind of wariness in them. "A pet is one of the things were both have to agree. It's a big commitment, you can't just decide that for both of us."

"I'm sorry." Charles said, pinching the fabric of his pants as he looked down at his own legs. "I'll make the post tomorrow, get someone to adopt the little guy."

"No, we're keeping him."

Erik was sure Charles would be dizzy with the way his head perked up at Erik when he said that, not believing his words at first and only really reacting when he saw that Erik wasn't kidding.

"You changed your mind?"

"Maybe. But you'll have to take care of him, I don't get three months of summer break." Charles smiled widely, bouncing slightly on the couch. "I'm still mad at you, tho."

"Oh, we both know that won't last long."

* * *

A few weeks later, Erik truly warmed up with the idea of having the small fur ball around the house munching on shoes and their toes from time to time and completely destroying their furniture with his teeth. He had gotten the rights of naming the cat after their discussion, and Erik had thought long and hard about a name and ended up choosing one that he knew would make Charles annoyed: Cat. Charles had complained, saying that the cat's name couldn't be Cat, and Erik said that it was his choice and that was Cat's name now. Charles had to accept it, even if he still tried to change the name from time to time, until Erik got Cat a collar with the name 'Cat' engraved on it, as well as Charles' and Erik's contacts in case he got lost, and sealed the deal.

"That's awful." Charles had complained as Erik held Cat up to show him the black cat's new collar, a grin on his face as he saw Charles glare at him. "It looks like we're just saying that he's a cat!"

"Well, isn't he?"

Erik won the argument there, and Charles slowly warmed up to the name since he had no other choice.

Now, Cat was part of the family, still following both Charles and Erik everywhere they went around the house and learning how to jump on top of their kitchen island to steal food. After taking him to the vet, they found out Cat was only three months old when Charles had found him, and after a few weeks the kitten had grew more, allowing him to do such things like jump on the kitchen island and eat Erik's breakfast before the man noticed what was happening.

One night, Erik forgot the door of their room open before they went to sleep, waking up to the ticklish feeling of Cat's whiskers brushing against his face. He opened his eyes, frowning and getting startled as he saw Cat's green eyes staring down at him, pupils blown wide as he lowered his head and touched his nose to Erik's in a gesture that almost made Erik cry, sap that he was in the mornings. He scratched behind the cat's ear, seeing him close his eyes with satisfaction, before poking Charles in the shoulder.

"Your son entered the room."

Charles mumbled something, turning around to see what Erik was talking about and frowning at the cat on top of the bed. Cat stepped on Erik's face — he had no consideration, the little devil — and stretched his neck to smell at Charles' face, a soft and pleading meow leaving him when he recognized the man who normally fed him. 

"He's your son too, you know?" Charles' voice was hoarse and he smiled at the cat before raising the covers and allowing Cat to sneak under them, staying between Charles and Erik and enjoying the warmth of the bed. "I think he wanted to say good morning."

"You're so innocent, Charles. He wants food."

"Let me have my affection, grumpy man."

* * *

In the end Cat started to sleep with them, by Erik's and Charles' feet where he would curl up under a blanket that Charles had given specially for the cat and softly snoring through the night. Sometimes one of them would wake up with Cat's teeth biting their feet through the blankets if they moved too much in the morning because the kitten thought they were playing with him, but generally they woke up to either the soft image of the black cat sleeping peacefully at their bed or with his green eyes staring at them very closely as if he could get his morning food just by that — and he usually did.

Charles was home everyday with Cat now since he wasn't having to give classes, only going back to campus when he needed to get something for his newest summer research, and yet Cat had gotten pretty close to Erik in the shot moments they were together. At night when Erik would get home from work he was now received by a symphony of meowing and Cat trying to climb his leg so he could be petted, as well as the bright smile of his husband coming from the kitchen or the living room, and suddenly Erik felt like it was too much love for him to handle at the same time.

One night, although, Erik got home to some old song playing on their radio and the image of Charles in the kitchen with Cat in his arms as he danced around. He stared for a moment, hearing Charles sing quietly to the words of the song as he swayed his hips from side to side and held Cat close to him. The cat was calm there, head resting against Charles' shoulder like he didn't mind the dancing at all, only moving when he noticed Erik there, starting with the meowing and clawing his way out of Charles' arms to run towards Erik for his nightly obligatory petting. Charles blushed slightly for being caught, but smiled at Erik either way.

That night, they ended up dancing together in the kitchen as Cat laid on the kitchen island — it was impossible to prohibit the cat from climbing there —, his tail moving around slowly as he watched his owners dance with curiosity inside his green eyes.

* * *

The day that Cat ran away from home because he got scared at the sound of a truck passing by, Charles called Erik almost crying to warn him. Erik had spent the entire day worrying over the cat as he worked, getting home and feeling something missing when he wasn't greeted by Cat, seeing his husband sitting with his knees up on the couch and the face of someone who had cried earlier. He tried to calm Charles down, saying that they would find him, and thankfully the man calmed down enough to get some sleep.

The next day, Erik ended up getting late for work because they received a call from an old lady saying that she had found Cat. They drove to the other side of town to get him, seeing the black cat almost scream when he saw them and jumping from the old lady's arms to jump into Charles'. He hugged the cat tightly, holding back his relieved tears as Erik thanked the woman, trying to give her something for finding Cat. She refused, smiling sweetly at them before they left, and Charles didn't let go of Cat for even a second through their drive home.

When they finally reached their house, Charles went to take a shower and Erik petted the cat quietly, sighing relieved that he was back home now.

"How did you get so far, bud?" Cat raised his green eyes towards Erik, looking at him for a moment before rolling around and grabbing his hand so he could keep petting him. Erik chuckled at that. "Don't ever do that again, you scared us."

* * *

Erik didn't like to admit but he talked to Cat way more than he should. Charles had left the house one day to go back to campus and Erik didn't have to work, which made him decide he would be the one cooking lunch that day since Charles would be back by lunch time. During the whole process, Erik kept a conversation with Cat, sometimes hearing the cat meow back at him and making him chuckle. He didn't notice when Charles arrived, midway telling Cat how to cook the onions the right way, and soon a snort came from the other side of the kitchen. 

Both Erik and Cat turned their heads to look at Charles there as the man smiled back at them in amusement. Erik blushed slightly as Cat moved his tail quietly, pupils blown wide as he watched Charles right before jumping from the kitchen island and going to rub himself against Charles' ankles.

"So is Cat going to cook from now on now that you are teaching him how to?"

"He's a very considerate pupil." Erik joked, still embarrassed that he was caught talking to the cat like that. "Listens everything and even gives his own opinions."

Charles laughed at that, picking up the cat before placing a kiss to Erik's cheek, a loving gaze in his eyes. "Isn't he? He likes to give his two cents on my research as well."

* * *

One day, on Charles' last month of summer break, both Erik and Charles were home when they heard a knock on the door. Charles opened it to see who he was, being greeted by an unknown face and frowning slightly. There was a woman standing there with a cat on a leash by her side. Cat gave one of his meows that meant he was greeting someone home, leaving the house to smell before rubbing his face against the other cat. Charles blinked a few times at the scene in front of him and the girl only smiled embarrassedly.

Charles and Erik would let Cat leave the house for a few hours now that they knew that Cat wouldn't run away from them and because he liked to explore the neighborhood. Turns out that on one of Cat's escapades, he had met one of the neighbor's female cat and apparently he would be a dad now. Erik looked at Cat in disbelief, seeing the cat sitting down by his heel with his tail swinging as if he was pleased with the whole situation as the woman explained everything to Charles. 

After she left with a promise that Charles and Erik would take some of the kittens once they reached the age to be separated from their mother, even if they put them to adoption, Charles stared at Cat with wide eyes.

"Young man!"

Cat only rolled around, asking for petting, and both Charles and Erik laughed.

* * *

When Cat turned one year old, Charles made sure to make a little party for him where it was just the three of them. Cat got a cat tree from Charles that he climbed for a while, making the man happy to know that his gift was appreciated.

"I have a gift too." Erik said, making Charles frown when he saw the grin on his husband's lips.

Erik took the box where the cat tree came in and whistled in a way that always caught Cat's attention, shaking the box in the air and placing it on the ground together with the bubble wrap. Cat's eyes watched for a moment before he ran down the cat tree and smelled the cardboard box for a moment, jumping inside of it in an instant and playing with the bubble wrap, quickly forgetting about Charles' gift. Erik raised his eyebrows at his husband, who glared back at him.

"I hate you, Erik Lehnsherr."

* * *

When they got Cat's kittens — two of them, the other three staying with their neighbor —, both Erik and Charles were already working full time, and there were more discussions as to what would happen to the kittens. Cat was slightly uneasy with the new members of the family, territorial cat that he was, so they decided to find another home for those two.

They ended up giving one to Moira and one to Raven, who had begged for one of the kittens ever since she found out by Charles that Cat had gotten another cat pregnant. She crossed towns just to get the kitten, who she quickly decided to call bubblegum even without any reason for it. Charles watched sadly as the kittens went, wanting to keep both of them, but this time Erik won the argument.

* * *

At night, when both Cat and Charles were deep asleep, Erik liked to watch them both for a moment before sleeping himself. He would never tell Charles, but he was glad the man had insisted on keeping Cat around. 

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr!](http://hellfre.tumblr.com)


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